


New Year’s Eve

by mackenziemchale



Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Love, Post S2, it’s ridiculous, pre S3, this is just fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:47:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25960030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mackenziemchale/pseuds/mackenziemchale
Summary: This year was going to be the first year since 2006 that she’d be kissing Will when the clock strikes midnight. No more drinking until she passed out or kissing some guy that was only using her, no this year she would be kissing the man of her dreams.
Relationships: Will McAvoy/MacKenzie McHale
Comments: 12
Kudos: 13





	New Year’s Eve

“Why do you insist on putting me through this torture?” Will complains as he’s led by Mackenzie, hand in hand, through the newsroom and over to the open area where others had already started dancing.

“Quit complaining,” Mac insists then turns on one heel when they reach their spot. Her arms come around his neck, “just pretend for two seconds for your fiancée, whom you love, that you’re not hating every second of this.” 

His arms instinctively come down and wrap around her waist, still looking unamused as they begin to sway. Although Will took tap dancing lessons when he was eleven (through his mother’s insistence), he really wasn’t much of a dancer. Not to mention, he had a certain disdain for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Will never understood the point. Everyone always rambled on and on about how the new year meant it was automatically going to bring a new version of themselves but really the clock was going to strike midnight and it would be another day. Nothing was going to change in the sixty seconds it took for the clock to go from 11:59pm to 12:00am. It was a holiday that was almost as pointless as Valentine’s Day. Except in his case, he cared about Valentine’s Day just a little more than New Year’s eve. It wasn’t just about showering Mackenzie in extra love and affection or gifts. No, his thoughts on Valentine’s Day changed the minute that he realized she put together a re-creation of the scene that made him cry from his favorite movie. Valentine’s Day, though a Hallmark holiday to him, held an extra special place in his heart because of that.

Mackenzie however, felt differently about New Year’s eve. She didn’t exactly set resolutions for herself or say the overused phrase  _ new year, new me _ , but she enjoyed the holiday nonetheless. It was a time that she could be together with all of her friends and celebrate making it through to another year. And maybe she was a little old-fashioned, but she always enjoyed ringing in the new year sharing a kiss with someone she loved. This year was going to be the first year since 2006 that she’d be kissing Will when the clock strikes midnight. No more drinking until she passed out or kissing some guy that was only using her, no this year she would be kissing the man of her dreams.

Will, who was only standing on the far side of the newsroom dressed up in a suit for Mackenzie (because he could hardly say no to her), looks down at Mac and could tell she was enjoying every second of this despite his grumpiness. That was his usual state anyway and she somehow still put up with it. Mackenzie gives him a smile, which he had to admit made his heart flutter. Right as he’s about to make a stupid and sarcastic comment, Mac pulls him down and presses a short but heartfelt kiss on his lips. Breaking apart, Will finds his lips curving up into a soft smile for the first time since the party started. The control she had over him and his emotions was unreal. 

Across the newsroom, standing against a random desk and watching as their bosses danced together, Neal comments, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen either of them so happy.”

Neal, Jim, Martin, Maggie, and Kendra had all been chatting away in their small group when they saw Mackenzie dragging Will out into the small crowd of people dancing. Knowing how much of a grump Will was, they all knew they had to watch him hate every second of their dancing. That was up until Mac had kissed him and they all managed to catch a glance at the smile he gave her. Now he seemed to be enjoying the dance a lot more, and that same smile kept returning. 

“They’re not fighting everyday anymore,” Maggie points out.

“Yeah they finally got their heads out of their asses— mostly Will,” Kendra adds and catches a glance as the couple share another kiss.

Will and Mackenzie usually kept their PDA to a minimum, but that didn’t mean at least one staff member didn’t catch it when it happened. Neal along with the rest of the small group he was currently with (besides Martin, who was usually clueless about the PDA), were massive fans of the relationship. It was usually Kendra or Maggie who caught the subtle touches Will and Mac shared when passing each other in the newsroom. Or the hand holding when they sat together during some of the rundown meetings. Neal had walked in on them more than once while they were making out in one of their offices and he wasn’t the only one to do that. It was Kendra tonight who had pointed out when they made way for the dance area. 

Another “aweee” came from the girls especially when they saw the second kiss. The group’s viewing session is cut short when they see Will and Mac turning in their direction. All five of them try to quickly avert their eyes and pretend like an actual conversation was being had as the two began walking away from the dance area and were headed in a direction that would pass the group.

“You guys really have to get better at spying on people,” Will mentions, briefly stopping as he walked with Mackenzie.

Jim and Kendra try to look away and Maggie stares down at her feet while Martin takes a sip of his drink. Neal is the only one actually looking at Will and all he can do is nod, embarrassment taking over him for being called out on what they all had been doing.

“Billy leave them alone, come on,” Mac says and tugs at his hand so that they could go make conversation with others. 

Will stares at the five of them for a second longer before listening to his fiancée and following her through the crowd.

It wasn’t until they disappeared and were far enough out of earshot that the girls started quietly but excitedly losing their minds over Mackenzie’s nickname for Will. They’d heard it plenty of times before by now, but all of them found it incredibly sweet that she was the only person allowed to call him that. 

⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀●●●⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀  ⠀⠀

Around 10:30pm, a small group had formed to play some games. They started with the infamous party game, truth or dare which eventually led to some pretty ridiculous dares including Jim prank calling a couple producers over at Fox News and Don having to run out onto the terrace and yell that his show,  _ Right Now _ , was a failure. 

Will wasn’t sure why he let Mac rope him into playing these party games, he did one dare but that was only after everyone nagged him for always choosing truth. His dare was incredibly ridiculous, but for half an hour he went around the newsroom and each time he met a new person and introduced himself, he had to say “Will McAvoy anchor of News Night and the face of ACN”. He hated every second of it because it wasn’t as if everyone didn’t already know who he was.

At 11:30pm, their next party game became never have I ever and that’s where things went south. Well, not for everyone, just for Don and Sloan- the fledgling couple that was still in the stage of “what exactly is this relationship?” and “is it even a relationship at all?” The game ended with the two arguing over facts they hadn’t known about the other yet because their relationship hadn’t progressed that far. 

The game only lasted ten minutes before everyone separated and now Mac found herself walking down the hall that led to the terrace. Peering out the door, she found Will who had snuck away before the game even ended. He was standing out in the freezing cold, smoking a cigarette as he listened to the parties happening below.

“You’re absolutely bonkers,” Mackenzie remarks as she steps out onto the terrace and is immediately met with the harsh cold biting at her bare arms. Her coat was in her office and she wasn’t expecting to find Will out here.

Will takes a drag of his cigarette and blows out smoke before turning, “says the one not wearing a coat.” He puts out his cigarette and instinctively takes off the one he was wearing, wrapping it around her shoulders once she met him at the railing.

Mac holds the coat tightly around her and peers down at the city below, it was extra noisy tonight. New Year’s Eve in New York City was always a constant party, it was day long for some people. Though, it was certainly much worse in Times Square when night fell. Mac had never been down there to watch the ball drop and she never planned to be. That was one thing she and Will could agree upon about this holiday.

“I still mean it, it’s freezing out here,” she says before a shiver runs down her spine. 

He places an arm around her, “come on,” he replies and begins walking with her back to the door. Now he was starting to freeze without his coat and maybe she was right, but he didn’t feel like admitting to it. 

It’s a couple of minutes before they’re inside, but instead of being with the rest of the party they’re tucked away in his office. It takes all of a minute after Will takes a seat for Mackenzie to join him in his lap after she places his coat down. 

Will glances at his watch as she gets settled in his lap, 11:50pm, ten more minutes and he’d be free of this party. They’d go home, shower, and finally settle down in bed. That was probably what he was looking forward to the most. 

“You know I feel somewhat to blame for Sloan and Don arguing, I was the one who said the thing I’d never done,” Mac points out while grabbing hold of Will’s hand and locking their fingers together.

He only shrugs, “they’ve been screwing around for what a month? There’s a lot they don’t know about each other.”

“Mm,” she replies and pulls herself out of his grasp then shifts so that she can look down at him. Mac squints and bites down on her lower lip before asking, “are there any deep dark secrets I should know about you before we get married?”

“I guess now is a good time to mention that I once killed a man and I’m on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, my name isn’t even Will it’s actually Benjamin,” he quips. 

Mac rolls her eyes immediately and slaps his chest, “I’m being serious.”

“Honey.” Will takes hold of her hand again and squeezes it after lacing their fingers back together, “we’ve known each other for nearly a decade. You know me more about me than anybody does.”

She stares at him for a couple seconds, “more than Charlie?”

He nods, “there are things you know about me that Charlie doesn’t, there are things that no one else knows besides you.”

That makes a smile spread across her face, feeling incredibly special to him even though she already knew that was the case. 

“Now, there isn’t anything else I should know about you is there? No exes I should know about?” 

She pretends to think for a couple seconds, because he already knew the answer to that. There was hardly anything they didn’t know about each other. They still weren’t the world’s greatest communicators, but they agreed on absolutely no secrets in their relationship. 

“I think you already know the answer to that,” Mac replies.

Will squeezes her hand in response and there’s at least a minute of silence before he says, “I’m sorry for being a grump during the entire party.”

She only laughs in response to that making him knit his eyebrows in confusion. “You’re cute,” she replies.

“I’m being serious!” he insists.

Mac shakes her head, “I wouldn’t be marrying you if I cared how grumpy you are all of the time. It really doesn’t bother me, but you could be at least more willing to dance with me.”

“Dancing is not my forte… but as long as it’s slow dancing I guess I can manage.”

The same soft smile returns to her face and she rubs her thumb along the back of his hand, “I hope despite your absolute disdain for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Eve parties you still had a good time tonight. I’m sure it’s better than having a drink thrown in your face.”

Mac could still see the image of Nina Howard getting annoyed at Will’s need to civilize and throwing her drink in his face when he tried to get her to kill the story on the housewife of whatever place it was.

Will nods, “you make it better, but the whole holiday is completely pointless. I have never and will never understand people’s obsession over it.”

She tunes him out as he continues rambling about his dislike for the holiday and notices that everyone at the party is starting to countdown. She could hear the slightly faint, “10! 9! 8!”

“Billy?” Mac cuts his words off as she hears the numbers rapidly approaching one. 

“Hmm?”

Mac shakes her head, “shut up and kiss me.”

It’s just as everyone is shouting out, “1!” that Mac grabs his collar and presses her lips against his in a hard and passionate kiss. It was a lot easier to keep kissing one another after the excitement outside quickly dies down, knowing they were alone in his office and no one was paying them any mind.

Another few seconds pass before their lips part, “take me home,” she murmurs and her lips were still so close to his that she was basically murmuring into his mouth.

Will doesn’t say anything, he only nods and kisses her one more time before helping her out of his lap.

She takes a brief second to readjust her dress before grabbing his hand again and pulls him toward the door. 

Unlike the rest of the night, where he had been dragged into certain things like dancing and the party games, Will eagerly follows quickly behind Mac as she guides the way out of his office and toward the hallway that led to the elevators. 

“Happy new years guys,” Jim says as the couple passes by him.

“Yeah, yeah happy new year,” Will blurts out as he and Mackenzie scurry to the elevator.

“Happy new year Jim!” Mac calls out.

The curiosity gets the better of the senior producer and he follows his bosses to the elevators. They were oblivious to him and completely wrapped up in each other. That became even more apparent to him when they jumped on the elevator together and started making out before the door even closed.

Jim shakes his head and yet at the same time he can’t help but smile. Neal was right when he said it earlier: neither had been this happy, certainly not in a long time.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m gonna try to make this end more short, I’m sure some of you noticed that I took down my pre-series fic 973 Days (and counting). If you’re curious as to why, you can read an explanation [here](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TdQcJR19Bd-tyjZAgkKDTCJiNhFdWqvPXW1e97JYTpk/mobilebasic)
> 
> As always, thank you for taking the time to read this fic. If you enjoyed it and please feel free to leave a kudos or feedback. Until next time ❤️


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